Seanan McGuire

<img src="http://seananmcguire.com/galleries/page_images/patreon_who2.jpg"> I'm Seanan McGuire, John W. Campbell Award winner, New York Times Bestseller, and owner of ridiculously oversized cats (seriously, they're the size of corgis). I release an average of five books per year, and have since 2009, including the October Daye series, the InCryptid series, and more, all under my own name. As Mira Grant, I am the author of the Newsflesh and Parasitology series, mixing fringe science with hard science fiction. I don't sleep very much. It is entirely possible to spend a year's book budget on me already, especially if you're someone who wants to collect all the anthologies and essay collections that I am a part of. I realize and fully understand this, because hoo, boy, I'm not sure I'd be able to keep up with me if I weren't me.  Which is part of why I haven't set up a Patreon before now. <img src="http://seananmcguire.com/galleries/page_images/patreon_why_.jpg"> Up until very recently, I lived in a crumbling farmhouse in Northern California with my mother, sister, housemate, and the aforementioned gigantic cats. We purchased the house in 1998, before the real estate boom. Sadly, it was not in particularly good shape then, and wasn't in particularly good shape when circumstances aligned to shift me up the coast toward Seattle. Moving is expensive, and in this case, it was not a wholly expected expense. Also, well. I had been living with my housemate for twenty years, between the apartment we were in before the house and the house itself, and it's a little surprising how many things I don't own. This is essentially a divorce, after all: somebody gets the cat and somebody gets the couch. (We were not romantically involved, but a twenty year co-habitation is a common law marriage in many states.) Since I was not going to give up my cats, I am down a lot of couches. So many couches. And thus... <img src="http://seananmcguire.com/galleries/page_images/patreon_project_.jpg"> This is a Patreon with a purpose: to buy me a new toaster, where "toaster" is a way of saying "thing I need for the house." (Amusingly, an actual toaster is on the list of things I need to get.) Some months, the toaster will be painting a room or buying a bookshelf, or a scanner, or a new desk that actually gives me room to work. Other months, the toaster will be that actual toaster I mentioned. Because this is a Patreon with a purpose, I'm not planning to keep it running forever. The current intent is one year from start to finish: twelve toasters, whatever shape those toasters may assume. Each month, I intend to post a short video or blog article to introduce the newest toaster, because it appeals to my sense of whimsy. I understand that Patreon doesn't come with accountability, and I don't feel like I need to provide toaster receipts or anything like that, but this is how I can get myself to do this thing. And I need to do this thing. I really, really need to do this thing. Did I mention that moving is expensive? <img src="http://seananmcguire.com/galleries/page_images/patreon_what.jpg"> Fiction. Patreon means patronage, in the old, "I pay people to create for me" sense of the word. So what you are going to get from supporting this Patreon is exactly what it says on the tin. You're going to get fiction. Most of it will be virtual, delivered electronically. If you back at the higher levels, some of it will be physical. (I have kept these levels extremely limited, because fulfillment is not one of my great strengths, and I need to be able to actually write the things I'm promising. Also, the point here is to buy toasters, not to spend all my toaster money on mailing things around the world. That gets spendy fast.) By supporting this Patreon, you will be effectively doing what my ad hoc tip jar has done for the last several years: you will be allowing me to prioritize stories that otherwise might not have been able to rise to the top of the priority list. Unlike the tip jar, however, there is not a pre-existing list of which stories will be prioritized: supporters of the Patreon will be able to have a say on what I work on. Which is not something I usually do, so that's exciting! Backers will receive digital copies of all of the work made possible by this Patreon, plus additional “per Thing” rewards at various backer and milestone levels. There's a possibility that some of those short stories will reappear elsewhere, either sold to magazines or anthologies as reprints, or (in the case of things set in one of my ongoing universes) as free downloads on my website. But the backers of this Patreon will get to read and enjoy them long before anyone else. I'm hoping to produce one thing a month for the length of the Toaster Project, giving you twelve new stories of varying lengths and giving me a little breathing room as I fight my way through this huge and unexpected expense. I've met me. Many of these stories will happen anyway. But you can make them happen sooner, and you can help me make a house a home by giving me the ability to buy a toaster.

Free

THANK YOU!  Everything helps.  You will receive a digital download of all stories sponsored by this Patreon, and have access to items as I post them.

Toast party

DOUBLE THANK YOU! In addition to new fiction, every month, you will be invited to a hangout about, among other things, this month's toaster. Is it a real toaster? Is it a lawnmower? No one knows. I mean, I don't even know. It's a mystery! Funding a mystery is fun, right?

 Toast party goer

NOW I CAN BUY TOAST. Everything above, plus access to The Poetry Project. Starting July 1st, 2017, I will be endeavoring to follow in Jane Yolen's footsteps and post a poem every day for a year. Structured, free verse, whatever; it'll be on the Poetry Project blog, and you'll get to see it first.

Poetry and pastry

HEALTHY TOAST. Everything above, plus access to one new poetry tutorial a month.  This tutorial is one of the places where I am most likely to fail, as people need to ask about poetry forms for me to remember to unpack them.

Learnin' Stuff

A REALLY NICE TOASTER.  Woo!  Everything above, plus you'll receive an email from me every time I post a new story.  It will be positive and as helpful as I can make it, with fun stuff about life, writing, whatever, and recommendations for awesome books and movies and comics I've enjoyed in the past month.  Also there will probably be cat pictures.

Positive toast

I'LL MAIL STUFF.  In addition to everything above, I will send you two chapbooks, each featuring a single short story written for the Toaster Project.  Depending on how ambitious I'm feeling, they will either be stapled or hand-stitched; they will definitely be signed.  So that's exciting.

Things bake slowly

SO MUCH MAILING. In addition to everything above, I will send you two 
chapbooks, each featuring a single short story written for the Toaster 
Project. Depending on how ambitious I'm feeling, they will either be 
stapled or hand-stitched; they will definitely be signed. So that's 
exciting.  Exclusive to this reward tier: I will include a hand-drawn art card, either black and white or color, in one of your chapbooks.

But they do bake

I'LL MAIL MORE STUFF.  So I travel a lot for work (yes, conventions are work when you have my job).  In addition to everything above, including the chapbooks, you'll receive handwritten postcards from me, at least one every three months (so quarterly), from places like San Diego, Wellington, and New York.  Plus, also quarterly, you will receive either a flash fiction story (250 words or less) or a sonnet, again via physical mail.

Travel is hard right now

SO MUCH TOAST.  You have my eternal gratitude.  Which isn't going to butter your bread, but hey, it's still a collector's item.  In addition to everything above, you will recieve a copy of every book I traditionally publish during the twelve months following your initial patronage (single-author only, no anthologies).  You might even get them before anyone else on your block, since author's copies usually reach me before they reach stores (although I am also terrible at going to the post office, so it's a toss-up).

Butter and books

THE BAKERY.  First off, don't...don't do this.  Or if you decide you really want to do this, don't do this for the whole year.  Please.  I don't want to be the reason you're living on ramen now.  But!  If you do this, in addition to all of the above (including postcards and chapbooks), I'll send  you paper copies of everything I traditionally publish during the twelve months following your initial patronage, along with a thank-you note, anthologies not included (I don't get copies of many of those).  You will also get to choose the characters and universe you'd like me to write about for one story.  You can't choose the plot, but you can give me an existing setting (from any of my published novels or short stories) and two of the characters featured, within reason (no Oberon and October, for example, as he's not currently an active part of the setting).  Want to see Jan and Li Qin again?  Want to know what happened when Jeff joined the ATI?  I can make that happen.  It's up to you.

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